Tuesday, September 20, 2022

ECOC22: OIF demonstrates 400ZR, Co-Packaging, CEI 112G, 224G, CMIS

At this week's ECOC 2022 exhibition in Basel, Switzerland, OIF is hosting nearly 30 member companies in demonstrations in four critical areas: 400ZR optics, Co-Packaging architectures, Common Electrical I/O (CEI) architectures and Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) implementations.

400ZR Demo

OIF’s 400ZR project is proving successful in facilitating new and simplified architectures for high bandwidth inter-data center interconnects and promoting interoperability among coherent optical module manufacturers. This 400ZR interop demo shows a full implementation across an 80km DWDM ecosystem using multiple form-factor pluggable modules, 400GbE routers, a 75 GHz C-band open line system, and test equipment solutions from multiple vendors. The demo provides evidence of widescale 400ZR deployment readiness based on a broad ecosystem of interoperable solutions.

Co-Packaging Demo

While individual companies consider options to optimize power and density, OIF has seen the need to lead industry standardization discussions for co-packaging architectures that promise to reduce power consumption and increase bandwidth edge density. OIF is leading the industry’s interoperability discussions for co-packaging solutions and will showcase its progress with multi-party demonstrations of its 3.2T Module project and External Laser Small Form Factor Pluggable project (ELSFP). A variety of interoperable components that enable co-packaging will be shown, along with a system implementation.

Common Electrical I/O (CEI) Demo

OIF played a lead role in moving the industry to the next generation by developing electrical interface specifications for 112 Gbps per differential pair. Multiple live demonstrations featuring interoperability amongst 14 participating members prove the critical role OIF serves as well as the developing supplier ecosystem. The CEI-112G demonstrations in the OIF booth will feature multi-party silicon supplier interoperability over various channels, including mated compliance boards, PCB channels, direct attach copper cable channels, a cabled backplane and even fiber. Each configuration demonstrates the technical viability of 112 Gbps operation, along with multiple industry form factors, including OSFP and QSFP-DD. The demo also shows a measured far-end eye diagram on an oscilloscope with analysis to show an example of the silicon signal integrity that is typically required going through the large variety of channels on display.

As the industry looks forward to higher data rates and increased throughput for the next generation of systems based on 224 Gbps per lane, new specifications and technologies will be required. OIF, where the optical networking industry’s interoperability work gets done, is leading the charge on 224G hardware interconnection application spaces and definitions, unveiling publicly at ECOC the first live 224G demo.

Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) Implementations Demo

CMIS is now established as the management interface of choice for next-generation pluggable modules, capable of managing both simple and advanced modules. CMIS provides a well-defined common mechanism to initialize and manage optical and copper modules while still providing the ability to support custom functionality. This commonality makes integration into different host platforms easier for both the host vendor and the module vendor. The CMIS demo consists of four separate demonstrations that show how modules can be managed and initialized, how modules can support multiple independent services (breakout) and how module firmware can be easily upgraded.

“The high level of participation in this year’s interoperability demonstration at ECOC demonstrates the global importance of OIF’s work and the collective efforts of its members to showcase how their solutions establish an ecosystem and work together to drive implementation of next-generation capabilities,” said Mike Klempa, Alphawave IP Group, and OIF Physical & Link Layer Interoperability Working Group Chair.


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ECOC22: Keysight's waveform generator speeds well past 160 GBaud

Keysight Technologies introduced its M8199B arbitrary waveform generator (AWG), which provides R&D engineers a high-performance signal source for arbitrary signals that enables development of designs employing multi-level modulation formats (e.g. 64QAM) at well beyond 160 GBaud.

Applications beyond 128 GBaud demand a new class of generators that provide high speed, precision and flexibility at the same time. Keysight addressed these challenges with the company’s new M8199B AWG which offers a high performing signal source for arbitrary signals with sampling rate up to 256 GSa/s and analog bandwidth exceeding 80 GHz, including up to eight synchronized channels operating simultaneously.

Keysight’s new M8199B AWG provides research engineers the speed, bandwidth, precision, and flexibility to meet the challenges of next-generation applications, enabling data transmission greater than 400 Gbps per lane in intensity-modulation/direct-detect (IM/DD) and greater than 1.6 Tbps per carrier in coherent optical communications.

"Today’s applications and services generate vast amounts of artificial intelligence workloads in the data center. New electrical and optical designs are required to handle these workloads within reasonable bounds of energy consumption," said Dr. Joachim Peerlings, vice president and general manager of Keysight's Network and Data Center business. "We are pleased with Keysight's continuous efforts to deliver first-to-market solutions that support our customers to connect and sustain our planet and take the next step in the race for higher data transmission rates."

Highlights for the M8199B AWG:

  • Intensity-Modulation/Direct-Detect (IM/DD) and coherent optical applications: provides the flexibility needed for advanced research on new modulation formats to boost transmission rates to the next level. The M8199B AWG matches with high-speed research experimenting using multi-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM), quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM) formats and other proprietary modulation formats at symbol rates approaching 200 GBaud. In addition, it provides stress signals to test next generation electro/optical components, digital signal processor application-specific integrated circuits (DSP-ASICs), and new algorithm concepts for multi-terabit transmissions systems.
  • Wideband radio frequency (RF) signal generation in wireless and aerospace/defense applications: addresses the latest developments in radar and wireless technologies which require generation of high-quality signals with modulation bandwidths well beyond 10 GHz. Generating those signals on an intermediate frequency (IF) rather than on quadrature signals is another important capability to support these applications.
  • Physics, chemistry, and general-purpose electronics research: enables users to generate any arbitrary waveform that can be mathematically described, including ultra-short pulses, wideband RF pulses, and chirps needed to investigate in applications such as chemical reactions, elementary particle excitation and quantum effects.



ECOC22: SABIC intros ultra-high-heat resin for CPO transceivers

SABIC introduced its EXTEM RH1016UCL resin, a new ultra-high-heat, near-infrared (IR)-transparent grade well-suited for injection-molded lenses used in co-packaged optical transceivers and other optical connectors. 

EXTEM RH1016UCL resin is one of the first IR-transparent thermoplastics that can robustly withstand the 260°C peak temperature of printed circuit board (PCB) reflow soldering while maintaining dimensional stability of the molded part. This capability helps enable optical connectors to be mounted with other components in one step, avoiding the separate assembly and alignment processes that are required for lower-temperature lens materials. The new EXTEM resin also provides high-throughput, precision micro-molding capability for enhanced productivity. Together with optical design freedom and breakthrough high-temperature performance, this new resin can help customers transition from pluggable optics to co-packaged optics that support increased data center speed, scale and energy efficiency. EXTEM RH1016UCL resin has been validated by a major technology OEM in the United States.

“Co-packaged optics are a next-generation technology that can help increase data center reliability and reduce power usage and costs by bringing the optics much closer to the main switching ASIC,” said Florian Jung, global business manager, ULTEM and EXTEM, SABIC’s Specialties Business. “Producing complex, miniaturized lenses and arrays for co-packaged optics calls for new materials that can overcome the design, manufacturing scalability and system cost drawbacks of glass. SABIC’s new EXTEM RH1016UCL resin addresses these needs while helping to advance this emerging technology and opening new opportunities to help improve PCB integration density and energy efficiency.”

“Using a special chemistry, we developed a new EXTEM resin with very high heat resistance that now supports the placement of optical interconnects with thermoplastic lenses close to the ASIC chip prior to PCB assembly,” said Gabrie Hoogland. “Co-packaging helps make the electronic signal path as short and seamless as possible to facilitate very high data transmission rates. To assist customers in adopting EXTEM RH1016UCL resin, SABIC’s global technology centers provide micro-molding capabilities, including state-of-the-art equipment to test optical properties and constants, metrology, reflow soldering stability and application (hydro)aging.”

https://sabic.com/en/news/36914-sabics-new-ir-transparent-solderable-extem-resin-supports-upcoming-shift-from-pluggable-to-co-packaged-optics